May 28th, 2009
The doors have been closed at Ruby’s fruit and vegetable stand at 400 Grand St. for over three weeks and the word on the street is that Ruby Baumgarten has finally retired. There had been some community concern over his health, but local business owner James Iglesias says he has heard Ruby is doing fine, just decided to close shop as he is approaching 90 years of age.
James, whose dry-cleaning business has been across the street for almost thirty years, said, “I could always hear him yelling over there, talking to people. But then I realized he’s getting up there, him and his friends were just hard of hearing.”
Former New York Times food writer Mimi Sheraton wrote this about Ruby’s in 1997:
Multicultural is also the word for eating habits here. Ruby (the Fruitman) Baumgarten has catered to a primarily Jewish clientele for 50 years, always stocking greens and root vegetables for chicken soup. Now he also keeps fresh ginger root for new Chinese customers. Savvy shoppers are regularly and loudly berated for squeezing produce, but he takes pride in never stocking anything that is too expensive for his customers. ”If they’re not going to buy cherries, why should I buy cherries?” he asks rhetorically.
As reported by a local neighborhood website, Kicking Over the Traces, Ruby’s location at 400 Grand Street is “one of the few old buildings remaining in the Seward Park Extension Renewal Area - and was the last building to enter the City’s Tenant Interim Lease Program (TIL). The program allowed residents in City-owned buildings to take ownership of their buildings as a cooperative. LES activist Chino Garcia added that one of the organizers who led the fight to save this building was former City Councilwoman and current NYCHA board member Margarita Lopez”.
You’ll be missed, Ruby.
May 28th, 2009
The push to oppose the city's plan to revamp Chatham Square is picking up momentum. Yesterday City Councilman Alan Gerson, NYC Comptroller Bill Thompson and community organizers rallied and delivered petitions to the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. They're demanding the LMDC withhold funding due to community opposition to the plan.
In the New York Post, columnist Jacob Gershman speculates about Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver's reasons for supporting mayoral control of NYC's schools. He theorizes that, since Governor Paterson is practically on political life support, Silver is, essentially, the state's de facto governor. And, he says, some people believe this has inspired him to "adopt less combative and more statesman-like style."
Also in the Post, an analysis shows that about $1.3 billion in federal stimulus money is already being spent in New York. Among the projects underway: $23 million to reconstruct a portion of East Houston Street.
May 28th, 2009
Three managers of the trendy Thompson LES Hotel on Allen Street got an earful from some of their neighbors last night. They were on hand, along with a lieutenant from the NYPD and representatives of Community Board 3 at a meeting to discuss concerns about late night noise, traffic congestion and unruly crowds on the streets around the hotel.
About 15 residents of the apartment buildings surrounding the hotel did not mince words. They said the noise wafting from the third floor, home of the newly opened outdoor swimming pool, and a second floor tented balcony makes it nearly impossible to sleep. Calling the hotel a “bad neighbor,” they painted an ugly picture of what’s happening, especially on Friday and Saturday nights.
- “Blocks and blocks” of black SUV’s idling on Orchard behind the hotel, transforming the street into a “landing pad for celebrity” guests and the paparazzi covering them. One man called the hotel’s management of the situation “not respectful of the neighborhood.”
- The sidewalks are so crowded with hotel guests that it’s impossible to walk on Orchard Street in the evenings.
- A resident used words like “outrageous”, “brazen” and “a joke” to describe the noise emanating from the first party held around the swimming pool.
- Emily Armstrong, one of the residents who organized the meeting, said the hotel is clearly violating New York City’s noise ordinance. “If you can’t hear your tv set you know it’s against the law,” she exclaimed.
- Another resident said playing loud music in an open-air tent is “absurd.” He added, “No one could think you could do that. Thats illegal. It’s rude and it’s not working.”
- One man, after noting he was happy that an upscale hotel had move to the neighborhood, complained that drunk guests (apparently attending private events at the hotel) stumble out on to Orchard and that doormen in “black turtlenecks” are arrogant, telling him to get off the street.
Continue reading Residents Confront “Thompson LES” Managers About Noise, Unruly Crowds
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